First Rock & Roll concert you ever saw?
 

Share whatever you want of the milestone

Oct. 2nd 1974. The New York Dolls and Lynyrd Skynyrd in Springfield, Missouri in what Was a bowling alley but I think it’s a Church now on Glenstone. Not too far from chestnut expressway. They both blew my mind. Opened up possibilities.

Ozzy Osbourne, Ultimate Sin Tour, summer 1985 Omaha Civic Auditorium. Blue Oyster Cult opened. I remember when Ozzy appeared onstage. The lights were down and they were playing that song from The Omen (Requium something or other) and then Jake E Lee rips into the opening riff for Bark at the Moon and this cage that was elevated above the stage has like a curtain around it. The curtain drops, and Ozzy is sitting in the cage, hands held out as the cage lowers. When it touches the stage, huge columns of flames shoot up and he jumps up and starts singing...

"Screeeeams break the silence
Waking from the dead of night
Vengeance is boiling
He's returned to kill the light
Then when he's found who he's looking for
Listen in awe and you'll hear him
Bark at the moon"

I was blown away. There I was, 14 years old, and I'm seeing live and in the flesh the guy who I've seen on TV and in posters...it was surreal, awesome, and solidified my love of heavy metal.

GOD...I miss the 80's...

Blue Oyster Cult, Joplin Missouri.

October 26, 1983 I saw AC/DC in Kemper Arena, wearing my home made concert t-shirt and rocking out in the nosebleed seats with my best friend. I was 13 years old, and my parents trusted my older brother to just drop us off and pick us up when it was over.

I remember a ton of skanky chicks, sketchy Mike Damone-looking dudes hanging outside trying to scalp tickets, and then the biker gang sitting next to us smoking weed all night.

They played For Those About To Rock as the encore, and I about shit myself.

Johnny Dare's Bday Bash at Sandstone in 2000 or 2001, I believe? POD, Nickelback, Mudvayne, Three Doors Down - a strange collection of acts. My parents took me and a friend of mine. We were in 6th grade.

1994 - Minnesota - Metallica.

1975- Kiss "Dressed To Kill Tour"

1998 - Dream Theater in Dallas, Texas

1968 Vanilla Fudge at the Armory in St. Petersburg, Florida, I was 18. First civic center show was Deep Purple or Jethro Tull, both were the summer of '72 at Savannah Civic Center. Vanilla Fudge had just appeared on Ed Sullivan Show the week before, and their hit "You Keep Me Hangin On" was probably the hardest song ever at that time. If you're not familiar, it's the song playing in the last big action scene in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood movie. Here's the Ed Sullivan appearance. Carmen Appice on drums.

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That was mine as well, at Municipal Auditorium in KC. I believe Black Oak Arkansas opened for them.

Bush and Veruca Salt at Sandstone in 1997.

1986 Billy Squier, lol

STYX 1973, Mcdonald Arena, SMSU Campus, Springfield, Mo. I was 12 yrs old, had floor seats with a buddy and took a hit off of every joint that was passed to me.
The first time the guy next to me turned to pass a joint he stopped, gave me the eye, shrugged and gave it to me.:D
Good thing I only lived about a block away. I was high as a kite by the time the concert was over.

I saw this tour in KC. Metallica, Suicidal Tendencies, Fight....and Candlebox LMAO

Just to give you an update since I know you're a Chicagoan now.....98.9 STILL has Candlebox in the daily rotation, haha (and that's why Pandora, SiriusXM and YouTube are so popular anymore).

FWIW I now have that didn't mean to treat you oh so bad song stuck in my head

Emerson Lake and Palmer at Municipal Auditorium in 1975. It was general admission.

Rolling Stones. Sun Devil Stadium. 1982. George Thorogood opened and might have been better than the Stones.

My first 3 concerts were all awful:

Bon Jovi/Skid Row
Nelson
Poison/Warrant

I mean, it was the late 80s and I was in 6th-7th grades, but it’s still tough to admit. My mom wouldn’t let me go to the shows I wanted to at that age so I had to take what I could get. Also, Nelson was her choice. She loved Ricky Nelson when she was young.

not my first but i was at that one as well

Rossington-Collins Band around 1980. They were some of the surviving Lynyrd Skynyrd members. In Norman OK.

If you consider 1960s/70s Neil Diamond rock, he was my first — May 1977 at the Greensboro Coliseum. I think my parents wanted to go and took 11-year-old me along to expose me to live music (my younger sister was left with a sitter).

Otherwise, my first true Rock Concert was Peter Frampton, August 1977 in Greensboro , which I asked to go to (Mom took me). Openers were .38 Special, then an up-and-coming regional band; and J. Geils Band, which back then were still true to their bar band roots, before they became an MTV-fied pop band in the 80s. They blew the roof off that night, did two encores, which was very rare for a warm-up act.

My First?

The Grass Roots - 1964? 65? Somewhere thereabouts.........

*correction*


The Beach Boys - 1966 - about three months before the Grass Roots.

1980-ish

Rush on the "Permanent Waves" tour. .38 Special opened (always thought that was an odd pairing).

I don't remember much of it though.

Bon Jovi/Skid Row doesn't sound bad.

LOL@Nelson.

My first concert was Van Halen at Kemper Arena in 1984, which was a great year for concerts for me, as I saw them twice, Rush & Gary Moore, Ratt at Starlight, Dio and so many others that year.

I was visiting friends in the bay area out in Cali circa 1986. He got a tip that a band playing at a local bar called "Soft White UnderBelly" was really Blue Oyster Cult. We got tickets. It was them. Sitting in the middle table. They were working on new material but they did all their hits too. Were doing shots with the audience. Eddie Money came up and did a blues song with them. Was a really cool experience.

I met both Nelson brothers and their drummer, Bobby Rock, at Guitar Center Sherman Oaks back in 1993. Surprisingly, they were both really cool dudes.

I didn't even know what to say to Bobby, as his girlfriend, who was carrying his baby, was murdered at an ATM the week before. I could tell the brothers drug him out of his house to keep his mind off of it but it was obvious that the dude was struggling.

Eurythmics in 1987 at the Country Club in Reseda, CA. Was 17 years old. My brother was a bouncer at the club and he got me in for free plus a VIP stamp to go upstairs and a 21+ stamp to buy alcohol. His advice: "Buy Long Island Ice Teas"

it was their second or third album so they weren't as popular as the "Sweet Dreams" days but it was a small venue and they put on a great show, really loud, lots of talking to the audience the vibe everywhere was great, people all seemed pretty chill and really into it.

I think I bought three Long Island Ice Teas. Don't remember much else. But I do remember trying to pick up on a real-live adult lady after the lights went on. was like "Hey this is great, right?" and she said "Thanks. I have a ride home." and I was like, "cool, I don't even have a driver's license." And she tapped me on the belly and dismissively said, "Take care of yourself sweetie."

I went to school the next day with a wicked hangover but feeling like a champion.

If I’m completely honest, I have a soft spot for the first couple Skid Row albums. Bon Jovi is a hard pass.

Peter Frampton 1979 Bicentennial Center Salina Kansas was the first

saw Van Halen Outlaws, Molly Hatchet REO Speedwagon Journey Duke Ellington "band" and Kansas in 1980. Point Blank in 81. Doobies, Kansas and Nugent in 82

Summer Jamb at Arrowhead in 82 was great. Triumph and 38 Special stole the show

Best show of the era- Kansas PERIOD.

The Beach Boys at the Illinois state fair, roughly age 13

Didn’t even really wanna be there but mom nagged until I relented

I have a friend who has a skynard Street Surviors album with the flames.
It has not been opened. His parents owned a store that sold records in small town kansas in the 70's and 80's.

Probably around 87-88 I saw The Circle Jerks and 7 Seconds at The Skate Palace (I think that’s what it was called). Man what a crazy show, my first time seeing and participating in a mosh pit. Next show I saw was Slayer at that same venue, that show was ****ing nuts!!

Best local bar small venue concert / shows in Kansas in the mid 80's(KSU and KC bars) was definitely Shooting Star for me.

They recorded their Wishes album in 82 at Caribou Ranch (recording studio) outside (north) of Boulder CO.

My much later in life story-
One of my customers worked for the owner of Caribou and developed that property into very large residential lots. I believe the property was 3500 acres. He sold 2000 acres to Boulder County, set up a conservation easement and sold building lots on the rest of it. The original studio burned down in the mid 80's.

The reason I mention Caribou-
Shooting Star recording there meant they had something special. If you research the history of Caribou and who recorded there- It is unreal. To know those kids from Shawnee Mission South HS had "the goods" and I got to see them live in bars and small venues makes a kid from NC Kansas smile.

Foreigner and Joe Walsh, 1985, the Scope in Norfolk.

Heh, you and I were almost certainly at some of the same concerts. I saw VH at Kemper in the summer of ‘84, and a LOT concerts at Starlight as well as Sandstone (Judas Priest, maybe Ozzy).

Ratt if memory serves was pretty kickass.

Ratt was really great at Starlight but the sound was freaking awful. I've just never had a good experience there in terms of sound, other than musicals.

I saw Ratt at Sandstone but they just were not on that night, at all. Robin Crosby was clearly whacked on heroin, so DeMartini had to cover all the rhythm parts and the lead parts, making the band sound really empty.

I saw Metallica open for Ozzy at Kemper, which just happened to be the night his MTV special was filmed but good grief, Metallica was the loudest band I'd ever heard in my life, before or since.

Once I stepped away into the concourse, the band sounded amazing but it was too much for my ears to handle and I had ringing for at least four days after.

Sometime in the late 80s I took a really bad date to an REM concert at her request. I kind of like REM's music now, but back then it was boring other than the End of the World song. And some people near us started smoking marijuana, which I thought was really rude. Overall, I did not consider it to be a good time.

Heh....Styx - Mr Roboto Tour at Kemper Arena.

My mom won tickets on the radio, and we had first row seats. Was quite the experience for a guy in 8th or 9th grade.

Funny Stephen Pearcy story.... he used to come into the liquor store I worked at in the early 90s in Encinitas (CA).

Me and some buddies were on a bachelor party in the late 90s, and bumped into him at a strip club in San Diego (body shop?).

He was hammered beyond belief, but my buddy bought him a shot.

Short while later, he was getting a bit too handsy, and got kicked out!

Needless to say, Stephen has some HARD miles on that body!

ELP was my first, too. I was a junior in high school and saw them at Cornell University in January 1978.

I think most concerts were until people got killed in the stampede.

Also there was no big money in touring at that time. Bands made their money with record sales up until Napster. Now we have to pay $100-$150 to see anyone of consequence nowadays.

Gary Moore must have been glorious.

Ratt. They came through Phoenix after reforming or whatever. Not the same lead singer. They were doing their thing and I said to my friend that I was going to get one of DiMartini's pics. The woman next to me heard me.

So the show ends and he's flinging picks and one lands right at my feet. I quickly stepped on it, my friend just looked at me funny. The girl next to me said "Holy shit!".

That pick lasted about 3 weeks before it broke apart.

Bob Dylan in Sioux Falls in probably 2007 or 2008. I love Dylan, but probably wouldn’t go to another concert of his again unless someone gifted me the tickets.

Saw him with the Grateful Dead in a San Francisco golden gate park festival thing. Wasn’t impressed by either one.

Saw him at Desert Trip a few years ago. He opened the festival. It was boring but the perfect act while everyone arrived, got settled in, and got to know their neighbors.

Then the Stones rocked that joint down. I've never seen anything like the Roling Stones at Desert Trip and 80K fans rocking and dancing their asses off. Such a great festival.

Dylan, Stones, Neil Young, Paul McCartney, The Who, Roger Waters.

So, we are driving back from Indio and they had the checkpoint open shortly after you enter AZ. On the side of the road as we got closer to exiting off to the checkpoint was soooooo many drugs tossed out of everyones window. Soooo many drugs it was unbelievable.

Dylan wouldn't allow them to film him for the mega screens so they had to play an older concert video of him, in black and white.

Recently saw a Dylan documentary about the Rolling Thunder Revue shows he did around '74. At the end of the film along with credits there was a scroll of his tour itineraries from that time until today. It was astonishing, that amount of traveling and performing, probably thousands of shows during non-stop touring all over the world. He's probably spent more time riding in a plane than any living person.

First real rock concert, as opposed to just some sort of live music, was ZZ Top. Must have been late 70s.

When I saw him I was gifted the ticket, and it didn't help. Holy shit he was terrible. And that was 30 years ago.

Wasp Stryper Ratt /all of chiefsplanet

Never heard a single song from Wasp or Stryper as far as I can recollect. And I was kinda drug to Ratt because my friend invited me.

Hells yea!

Bon Jovi with Skid Row for me.

The US pressing is very rare, they only were on the market for 3 weeks and it could be worth $100 to $300. However, all through the 80's I sold the UK pressing in my record store in Georgia for $9.98, I imported them for $3 a copy all day long. I wish I had a few dozen around now, but I don't. I Probably sold a box of those a week in my store for years. The British never changed the album cover and I sold a lot of imports. My best sellers on vinyl, was UK Street Survivors and Iron Maiden Piece of Mind picture disc, it was actually a US Capitol release but had the bonus track "Cross-Eyed Mary", the Jethro Tull cover and was probably the best cut on the album.

https://i.etsystatic.com/8142885/r/i...26190_c3vo.jpg

Gary Moore I saw before he went to the blues and still rocked, he was touring for the Cooridors of Power album in 1984. He opened for Krokus, who was doing Headhunter and Def Leppard who was touring Pyromania, it was the loudest concert I have ever heard. My head was messed up for 3 days afterwards.

Gary Moore had a great long track on that album called End of the World. On the record Jack Bruce of Cream, sang the vocals, but of course he's not going to tour with Gary to sing one song. Gary sang the track and it was the highlight of his show, about 40 minute show and that song was about 9 minutes and he really rocked. Here's the album version.

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4-17-84 Billy Joel Kemper Arena. Played 3 hours by himself, no warm up band. Still ranks in top 3 for me.

Worst one ever-- Willie Nelson New Years Eve. Only time I ever left a concert early

Starland Vocal Band, Great Adventure in Jackson NJ around 1975 or 1976.

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We're pretty fortunate so many good acts come through KC. I grew up in north central KS, and it was always a treat to be able to take the 2 hour jaunt to KC to see some huge bands at Sandstone. When Lollapalooza toured with Jane's Addiciton, Audioslave, Queens of the Stone Age, Incubus, etc. - my erection lasted longer than 4 hours that day.

Peter Frampton and Jackson Browne @ Starlight... around 1997-1998 maybe.

December 9th 1977 KISS - Alive II tour, AC/DC with Bon Scott Let There Be Rock tour opened for them. Incredible!

Forgot to mention Mid-South Coliseum Memphis, TN

DAMN STRAIGHT :rockon:

You actually saw AC/DC with Bon Scott? Awesome!

I do kind of hate you now, though. :)

Found the ticket and flyer. $15 was a huge cover charge back then.

Soft White Underbelly? Was that a band in the 80's or did Blue Oyster Cult resurrect their original name?


Until I paid $20 to see Pink Floyd at the Atlanta Omni in '88, I never paid more than about $8 to see any band. I've seen about 100 shows. I can remember seeing Uriah Heep & Manfred Mann's Earth Band in 1975 at the St. Petersburg Bayfront Center for $7.50. I have one exception to that statement. I went to 1986 Amnesty Int' Show at the Atlanta Omni for $36 in 1986. However, I saw U2, the Police, Peter Gabriel, Bryan Adams and Lou Reed, each band performed six songs. I didn't complain about the price for a show that big. Then that Saturday I watched the same show live on MTV from Giants Stadium in NY.

Yes and on the song Let There Be Rock, Bon Scott had Angus on his back running through the audience - the cleared isles of course. Will never forget.

Wikipedia is awesome!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alive_II_Tour

Scroll down to tour dates and check December 9th! This actually brought a tear to my eye - incredible! Bon Scott didn't die until 1980 - 3 years later. Wow!

I was there also. Second time I saw Kiss in Memphis. Here's my ticket stub from that show:

https://i.ibb.co/kx1cvQ9/kiss-77.jpg

Outlaws, Molly Hatchet, and Van Halen in Portland in 1979. It was an empty former Toys 'R Us so it was just a big open floor, not even any seats. This was Van Halen's first tour and they were awesome. They were all good and I have seen all of them again except for the Outlaws. That guitar army was really fun though!

Indeed. I saw Zep in 1973? 74? And I still remember the ticket - $5.00. Saw Golden Earring in Germany in '80 - $4 Deutsche Marks (around $2.75 American at the time).

1994, Kemper, Rush with Primus opening up.

Yep that is it! AWESOME!

I saw Ratt, with Bon Jovi opening, in a small club in Portland in 1984. It was an odd concert because both bands only had one album at the time so they ended up playing a few of their songs a couple of times.

I also spent most of the concert pissed off because my girlfriend at the time was trying to get to the stage so she could kiss Jon Bon Jovi. :#

1983 Def Leppard Pyro tour
Uriah Heep opened the show.

AC/DC with Fastway opening the Flick Of The Switch tour. Was one of the best Ive ever been to.
DIO. Is my most treasured concert.
Thank God I was there and thank god for Bugs on that one.

FTR I hate Bon Blow Me.
Id rather listen to that beta band Nickel Back.

Concerts are such an event nowadays, knocks me out to think that back in the early days big time rock bands would do a matinee and then an evening show.

Yes! Remember it like it was yesterday.

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How many concert stubs ya'll got?

My first two were Metallica with Queensryche in the winter of 88 and then Metallica with the Cult in the summer of 89 at Sandstone. Both were good but the summer concert was the best of the two.